The Dance of the “Little Pigs”

The EU summit of December 18–19 was announced as a decisive rendezvous for Europe, one meant to test its credibility as a major actor on the international stage. Initially, the goal was to create “a market of 750 million consumers” through the conclusion of a free-trade agreement with Latin America. The deal was supposed to be signed in Brazil the very day after the summit; the President of the Commission’s suitcases were already packed…

But above all, the summit was supposed to address the security of the continent, and to do so urgently, by reaching agreement on funding for Ukraine—still at war—for 2026 and 2027, with Kyiv facing literal bankruptcy as early as the first quarter of 2026. Upon arriving in Brussels, the Polish prime minister struck a martial tone:

“The choice is simple: either the money now, or blood tomorrow…”

Alas, this summit once again confirmed the opposite. When faced with Empires, Europe remains little more than a collection of countries that talk incessantly, as Trump puts it, “without knowing how to decide anything”; a bunch of “little pigs,” Putin adds… China, for its part, says nothing—but thinks no less—dumping onto the old continent a flood of products it can no longer sell to the United States, tariffs oblige. In France alone, China now accounts for half of our abyssal trade deficit—nearly €50 billion out of €100 billion.

As for the weapons supposedly destined for Kyiv, what we mostly saw instead were tractors in the streets of Brussels, and the familiar images of farmers—mostly French—shouting their distress at Belgian police amid burning pallets. In the end, the MERCOSUR treaty, negotiated for twenty-five years (!), will once again be postponed—but only for a few weeks, just long enough to put in place safeguard measures that, at the very last minute (!), were suddenly deemed indispensable to control imports from Brazil or Argentina.

Giorgia Meloni arrived in extremis to rescue Macron, who was struggling with his own contradictory statements on MERCOSUR (one day yes, the next no, as usual), and above all with a sudden outbreak of bovine dermatological disease—handled by his government in the worst possible way, with helicopters and armored vehicles…

The Ukrainian Front

That left the Ukrainian front. For weeks, Europeans had been trying to insert themselves into negotiations that completely elude them—talks taking place between Trump and Putin—multiplying summits and video calls with Zelensky. Disillusioned, Europeans have understood since the Trump–Putin meeting of August 15 that Trump is no longer their ally on this issue, but rather a mediator—one distinctly more favorable to Russian interests: no Ukrainian accession to NATO, Kyiv’s abandonment of the entire Donbas, and the exclusion of any Western military presence on Ukrainian territory after the war.

To prevent such a “deal,” Europeans, lacking any “Plan B,” had at a minimum to help Ukraine hold on financially for at least the next two years, at a cost of no less than €70 billion per year—especially since the United States has halted all funding since last January. With Europe cash-strapped and growth hovering near zero, including in Germany, the idea gained traction of dipping into Russian sovereign assets—€210 billion, mostly held at Euroclear in Belgium.

Such a move would be a clear violation of international law, immediately denounced as “theft” by Putin, and one that would have exposed both Euroclear and Belgium to legal liability. Despite intense pressure from Chancellor Merz, from Zelensky on Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever, and despite countless expert meetings, the solution ultimately adopted was a collective loan, Covid-style, amounting to €90 billion—further increasing the debt of member states (nearly €3.5 trillion in France alone).

This loan is theoretically to be repaid by Ukraine after the war, as part of potential Russian reparations… Germany opposed it, but had to give in around 3 a.m. on December 19. The same goes for Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia, which ultimately abandoned their attempts to block the loan—on condition that they neither participate in it nor be held financially accountable.

Meanwhile, the war in Ukraine continues… Trump has imposed a total air and maritime blockade on Venezuela, opening the door for China, which dreams of doing the same to Taiwan. Taiwan—on which Trump has just decided to bestow $11 billion worth of weaponry.

In short, the world of Empires keeps turning—but without us.

Pierre Lellouche
December 19, 2025